God is always on time

Lately I feel like my head is going to explode. As I've previously written, I've been reading (obsessed with) books about God/faith. After finishing Francis S. Collins's "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" and Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's "20 and Counting" (which I have yet to discuss), I picked up "Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith." This collection is edited by- who else?- Francis Collins. It is a compilation of writings of many of the world's greatest thinkers- philosophers, preachers, poets, scientists- such as Plato, Blaise Pascal, John Locke, and Madeleine L'Engle. While not an easy read- those ancient philosophers are just so darn wordy!- the passages lay out convincing arguments for belief in God. While I am not on the fence post when answering the eternal question- "Is there a God?- I still find it impossible not to read arguments pertaining to this life-defining inquiry, regardless of the author's stance. (Of course, my soul much prefers when the author's answer to that central question is affirmative, but how will we learn if not from those with contradictory viewpoints? But I digress...)

This is one of those books that makes you say, "I can't believe I've never before read these words." Many of the writings have been around for hundreds- if not thousands- of years. Thus, I thought to myself, "Why have I never come across (the majority of) these works until now?" Such a question reminds me of the saying I've read/heard so many times: "God is always on time." As mere mortals, I'm sure most of us tend toward the knee jerk response of "Really? Because I can think of many instances where He most definitely was not on time (if He showed up at all)." But Madeleine L'Engle gently reminds us of our self-centered nature by poking holes in our common assumption that God uses a Rolex when she says, "Isn't it rather arrogant of us to think that God had to use our ordinary, daily, wristwatch time? Scripture does make it clear that God's time and our time are not the same."

Maybe I wasn't meant to read all those words until they were able to really speak to me. And that's kind of how we come to know- and truly believe in- God, isn't it? Unsurprisingly, Blaise Pascal says it much better than I in his classic "Pascal's Wager."

"That is why those to whom God has given religious faith by moving their hearts are very fortunate, and feel quite legitimately convinced, but to those who do not have it we can only give such faith through reasoning, until God gives it by moving their heart, without which faith is only human and useless for salvation..."

To that, all I can say is... In Jesus' name, Amen.